


And If This Is to End in Fire

by broodywolf



Series: Fenhawke Week Fics [7]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Angst, F/M, So much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-07-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 19:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4449947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/broodywolf/pseuds/broodywolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fenris receives Varric's letter after Adamant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And If This Is to End in Fire

It was too much to hope for, Fenris supposed, that the slavers would continue to use that predictable cave on the Wounded Coast forever. It had seemed that way for a while; they’d clear out one group of them and before too long more would move in to try to reestablish the operation. Opportunistic bastards. Not that Fenris had minded; he had come to know that cave like the back of his hand, and never tired of slaughtering those who would see it put to its former uses again.

Apparently someone had finally wised up, because now Fenris was in a desert halfway to Tevinter, waiting to intercept a caravan transporting would-be slaves into the Imperium. He had been scouting for signs of the caravan, and now made his way back to his camp. His armor was full of sand, his lips chapped from the sun, his throat parched from the incessant heat. He had been accustomed to this heat once. What he wouldn’t give for that cool, damp cave now. If Hawke were here, she would probably make some glib comment about his hair at least being white, reflecting the heat her dark locks would trap in. Fenris smiled at the thought, and fixed his eyes determinedly on the crumbling archway ahead, a lonely remnant of some ancient town that had served him as cover and blessed shade while he waited.

Before he could reach the structure, a loud cawing behind him drew his attention. He whipped around, hands moving instinctively at the noise to draw his sword. A raven? That was… unusual. And this was a rare bird indeed, an intelligent creature. He knew no one who possessed such a bird, and the use of one would not come cheaply if someone had paid to borrow it. What news could be so urgent?  He planted his sword in the sand beside him and untied the letter from the bird’s leg, seeing his own name in Varric’s sprawled handwriting on the scroll. It had been well over a year since he had heard from the dwarf. Fenris knew he had wound up with the Inquisition, but nothing since. Carefully he unrolled the parchment and began to read…. Then Fenris’s whole world shattered. The words blurred together, morphing into barbs of ice piercing his very heart-

_Fenris-_

_This letter is probably the last thing I would ever want to have to write. For once, I’m at a loss for words. There is just no easy way to say this. Hawke is gone. You know that she had been investigating the Wardens. Well, she was right to. You are not going to like this. A Magister was using blood magic to bind the Warden mages to Corypheus. At Adamant, she and Alistair and the Inquisitor’s group ran after Erimond to stop him… and ended up in the Fade, physically. Alyx- the Inquisitor, that is, tells me Hawke stayed behind to allow her and Alistair to make it out. I should have been there, Fenris. Maybe if I had stayed with her… well, regret won’t change anything. At least Bianca got to give that Tevinter bastard Erimond what was coming to him, even if Alyx insisted we take him alive._

_I’m so sorry, Fenris. Just… Don’t do anything stupid, okay? For me. I can’t take any more of this shit. You’re always welcome at Skyhold if you need someplace to go._

_-Varric_

No, no, no, no. Hawke wasn't… Hawke couldn’t be dead. How many impossible situations had he seen her escaped unscathed? Varric had to be wrong; Hawke would show up with that grin on her face and another impossible tale of survival. He would not accept that she was dead. _I can’t bear the thought of living without you_. Hadn’t they promised each other?

Fenris’s knees fell out from under him, curling in on himself as one hand grabbed at his face to stifle the scream threatening to escape his mouth. He was vaguely aware of his erratic breath, lungs gasping for air in a world that was suddenly devoid of it. Clawed gauntlets dug gouges in the sand as he doubled over. _Gone_ … Hawke is gone. The words echoed hollowly in his head. _Don’t do anything stupid_. It was exactly what Hawke would say, but what was the point if she wasn’t here to hold him to it?

The murmuring of voices still some distance away caught his attention, sound carrying easily over the flat desert. The creaking of a wagon also, and the faint metal-on-metal jangling of chains. Slavers. Molten rage seeped through every inch of him, burning away his despair and filling him with single-minded purpose. His tattoos blazed to life, casting him in ghostly blue light as he drew his sword. Let them see him coming. Tevinter had taken everything from him. His family, his freedom, his memories. Now they had taken Hawke. And they would all _pay_.

**Author's Note:**

> ...I'm sorry.
> 
> Come yell at me: broodywolf.tumblr.com


End file.
